Miss Clark's School

Last Saturday I gave a presentation to the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society on a Campbelltown identity from the past named Zillah Dredge. One of the schools Zillah attended was Miss Clark's private school in Cordeaux Street. The Historical Society have since drawn my attention to a few images of this school, including this wonderful photograph of the school below and its children in 1910. A young Zillah Cooper, as she was known then, is standing at the back aged about 12 or 13.

At back standing: Zillah Cooper

Back Row: Edna Tallentire, Daphne Clissold, Marjorie Gore, A. Stubbs

2nd Row: C. Tripp, Biddles, Douglas, ? ? P. Tripp

Front Row: Augustus Gore, Biddles, ?

(Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Little is known about the school. It was believed to have been built in the 1880s and was located at the back of a house at 5 Cordeaux Street. The house was known as "Rema". According to Zillah the school was a very big room at the back and attached to the house. She described it as like a big dormitory and a big room. Miss Clark ran the school and lived in the house with the owner, her sister Hannah Tallentire. Miss Clark was the daughter of Samuel Clark and Isabella Kearns. She taught about 30-40 students on her own. Zillah believed Miss Clark taught at the school for ten years. The house and the school were demolished about 1975 or 1976.

Despite a comprehensive search of resources, I am unable to find a first name for Miss Clark. If anyone has more information on the school, Miss Clark (including her first name) or photographs, I would be very interested.

The school is in the centre of the photo, attached to the white house in the middle (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

An earlier photograph showing the school on the right (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Written by Andrew Allen

The Eggleton Family

The recently named Eggleton Reserve in Englorie Park was named after a prominent Campbelltown family. David and Linda Eggleton have kindly given permission to use there notes from years of research into their family.

William Eggleton (alias ‘Bones’) born c.1756, was one of three known First-Fleet convicts awarded land grants in Campbelltown. Late of the parish of St Saviour, within the borough of Southwark, England, following an offence of stealing, he was sentenced to seven years transportation ‘beyond the seas’.

Transported on the ‘Alexander’, he arrived in Sydney on 26 January 1788.

The "Alexander" (Image supplied by marine artist, Frank Allen)

William married fellow First Fleeter, Mary Dickenson, who had been transported on ‘Lady Penrhyn’, on 17 February at St Philip’s Church of England at Sydney Cove and they had four children – Sarah, William (who died as an infant), William (2) and Elizabeth, who fell victim to Campbelltown’s notorious family mass-murder in 1849.

By 1790 the colony was desperately short of provisions and Governor Phillip decided to establish a new farming district at Prospect. He selected 26 of the most reliable convicts to begin a new endeavour and, as one of the chosen convicts, William Eggleton started farming his sixty acre property at the foot of Prospect Hill, on what is now Old Toongabbie Road, which he named ‘Eggleton’s Endeavour’.

In 1799 William was appointed by Governor John Hunter to check the quality and quantity of grain supplied to Government Stores in the Sydney and adjacent areas. Just prior to his appointment, Mary Eggleton died and was buried in the Old Sydney Burial Ground where Sydney Town Hall now stands.

By 1814 William was working on an additional sixty acres at Campbelltown (then known as Airds), which was granted to him in 1817, and was situated where this reserve now stands. William farmed this land with his son, William (2), with all of William (2)’s children being born on the property.

No official death record can be found for William Eggleton, although he is thought to have died between 1825 -1828, and is most likely buried on his Bargo property, which was granted in 1823.

Son, William (2) continued to live in Campbelltown for many years, with many of his descendants still living in Campbelltown today. Over two centuries after William and Mary Eggleton arrived on our shores, thousands of Eggleton descendants are now scattered across the length and breadth of Australia.

A significant event for modern day Campbelltown occurred on 16 February 1986 when thousands of descendants of William and Mary Eggleton gathered for the ‘Eggleton Muster’ organised by descendant, Shirley White at a nearby reserve. This gathering led to a proposal by Shirley White for a reserve to honour the Eggleton family’s First Fleet ancestors.

This present site, being situated in the centre of William Eggleton’s original land grant, was selected in 2014 as the most appropriate site to honour William Eggleton and his family.

St Peters Parish Map showing Eggleton's land

Characters of Menangle

Every town has its characters. Those people that are remembered fondly and talked about long after they are gone. Menangle was no different. Black Nellie, Granny Farrell and Billy Baldaxe were three personalities much loved from Menangle's early days and I thought I would tell their story. Their stories mostly come from J.J. Moloney and his book "Early Menangle".

Na Daang, also called Black Nellie, was born in the Penrith area and spent most of her life there. She was remembered as being generous, kind to animals and fond of young children. She made periodical visits to Menangle, accompanied by several dogs of various breeds. Her connection to Menangle originated from a visit she made to Camden Park in the 1830s. She met Johnny Budbury, an aboriginal constable and tracker, who had been born and raised in Camden. It was a case of love at first sight. They later moved to Windsor and Johnny at some stage passed away. When Nellie in later years returned to Menangle she stated that Johnny was dead, but that he was a good man and prayed to God before he died. She was very popular in the area and treated well by the locals.

In the years after Johnny's death, Nellie befriended a white woman by the name of Sarah Shand. She lived on her family's farm on Bringelly Road from 1891. Shand wrote about Nellie's life and painted a portrait of her. She was photographed a number of times, including by Sarah Shand. In one photograph her eccentricity is revealed by showing how she wore her usual two dresses. She would often wear as many as seven petticoats at once.

Black Nellie lived until the 1890s. There is some conjecture about where, when and how she died. There is a possibility that she sadly died at Newington Asylum on 10 December 1898. NSW Birth, Death and Marriage records indicate an aboriginal woman by the name of Nellie died there. I hope it is not her and that she moved away somewhere and experienced a peaceful end to her life.

Black Nellie photographed at Penrith in the mid 1890s (Local Studies Collection, Penrith City Library)

Another character from the early days of Menangle was Mary Ann Farrell. "Granny" Farrell was held in very high esteem by the Menangle locals. In the mid-1870s aged in her mid nineties, Granny would frequently walk four of five miles (6.6 to 8.04 kilometres) every afternoon around Menangle. She always stood out in her snow-white hood of the period. She had been married twice, her second husband Christopher dying in 1853 aged 80. Granny Farrell lived by herself after Christopher's death in a house located approximately on the left hand side of Menangle Road, just past the turn off to Glenlee Road, heading towards Menangle. Incredibly, she was aged 105 years when she passed away on 28 February 1885! She is buried with her husband in St John's Cemetery in Campbelltown.

The Farrell grave in St John's Cemetery

The third Menangle character was known as Billy Baldaxe. His real name was probably Baldock. He possessed a fiery temper and a thin physique. Billy was a convict and according to J.J. Moloney, took pride in exhibiting the marks of his 1500 lashes. Moloney went on to describe him as "possibly the best relic of the system" that he could remember. After his emancipation, he was employed by the pioneering Woodhouse family. A search of convict and other records for this man proved inconclusive. 

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

MOLONEY, J.J. 1929

Early Menangle

Newcastle: The Australian Society of Patriots

Karskens, Grace

'Nahdoong's Song'

Camden Museum Facebook site, 10 September 2020.